


Criminal Domesticity

by Bubblegum_monroe



Category: The Arcana (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/M, Familial Abuse, Hurt/Comfort, Mafia AU, Meeting the Parents, abuse mention, again but this time its different, i guesssss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-12
Updated: 2019-04-12
Packaged: 2020-01-12 03:23:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18438014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bubblegum_monroe/pseuds/Bubblegum_monroe
Summary: When your girlfriend hasn't told you that she's part of a criminal organization lead by her family, meeting the parents has never felt so bad.Especially when you see their parenting style.





	Criminal Domesticity

He’d found himself an in.    
A way to find out everything he needed to know, to get inside information.    
A position within the Family.    
All thanks to an almost  _ too  _ insistent member of the mafia that he’d kept running into during Eos’ performances. 

It would have been a night like all her other performances, he’d go sneaking around when Eos was distracted with setting up and be back in time to see her sing for groups of murderers, extortionists and thieves. Almost everyone at these parties had some hand in criminal activity, more than a few notorious for it. And they were all a little too friendly when they realised who he was here with.

She always got him a way in for free, already so adored by those who organized these parties. Always referring to themselves as your uncles no matter who they thought you were or thought they were.    
It wasn’t hard for her to convince them to let him in, bringing him along the first time and merely  _ asking _ if her boyfriend could come for a bit.

“ _ Any friend of our favourite performer is a friend of ours _ ,”  _ A large man had practically bellowed out, clapping a hand down on his shoulder. _ _   
_ _ It’d been sore for a while after that.  _

Since then it’d been expected he come. Arriving with her on his arm, if he ignored how these parties were funded and the true natures of those who attended, it almost felt magical. Enjoyable. 

But thanks to that one night, he’d managed to worm himself into their good graces. And find himself  _ almost _ one of them.   
Almost, as he was assigned to bring one of their best operatives down, and whoever else got in the way. And if he had his way, it’d be most of these people.

They sent him on small jobs first, things he knew they’d set up for there to be complications just to test if he could be trusted. He knew the game, he worked his way around it. He could be trusted, he could be  _ smart _ .    
He worked his way up.   
Extortion, to drugs, to dealing with  _ problems _ . He could be trusted with these things.

And now he was preparing for the ultimate meeting. The head of The Family and his literal family.    
He’d told Eos it was just a meeting with his boss, for a new job he had in some corporation.

He adjusts his tie, would he impress? Why can’t he get this thing  _ right _ today?

He had to lie to her of course. She didn’t  _ know _ who those people were, and so far she was safe as long as she didn’t know. 

She comes up behind him, fixes and tightens his tie for him. Her eyelashes casting long shadows over her cheeks, hair half done in curlers for tomorrow. She is beautiful. A woman who stands out, you  _ know _ who she is when you look at her. Golden eyes, purple hair, a laugh and smile that sends Heaven itself into a jealous rage. He places his hands on her hips, kisses her forehead. She smells divine, perfume fruity. Sweet.

“Thank you, habibti,” He murmurs, smile adoring when he looks at her. He would do  _ anything _ for her. 

“It’s no trouble,” She pinches his cheek with a grin. She’s wearing his shirt from earlier in the day, and he knows she’ll sleep in it because he’ll be home late and she’ll want to sniff it. Because she  _ always _ does when he’s home late. “Can’t have you looking sloppy now, eh? Corporation, always stuffy. You’ll do good.”    
She’s sleepy, the Greek in her accent stronger because of it. She’d usually sleep a little earlier, and then still sleep in, but she wanted to see him off. Wanted to make sure he looked his best. 

“I’ll see you in the morning,” He takes her hand, kisses her knuckles, then the back of her hand, her wrist. Moving up until she laughs and takes her arm away, pushing him backwards out of the bedroom. 

“Go, you’ll be late if you keep this up,” She keeps pushing him back, walking him towards the front door. She opens it up for him, kissing him there. Soft, deep. Having to lean up on her toes to reach him, which she claims is one of her reasons for wearing heels so often. “I’ll see you later.”

“You’ll see me in the  _ morning _ ,” He knows she’ll try to stay up anyway, and pass out in the living room. He kisses her again, shorter this time. Lingering for a moment before he leaves and she closes the door. 

He’s floating on air until he remembers who he’s meeting again.    
This isn’t just a dinner with his boss, this is a dinner with the leader of a group of criminals, murderers. People he has to hunt down and bring to justice.    
Then when he’s done, when the assignment is done, maybe then he can tell Eos the truth. Until then…

He catches a taxi to the restaurant. He knows it’ll be largely empty, other mafia members will be there on their own business but the  _ focus _ will be the dinner he’s having. 

He walks into the restaurant, hands the worker at the door his jacket and is guided to the table.

It’s not hard to guess who is who. There’s only three of them. Two tall men, and a woman. The woman has her arm looped through the taller of the two men. Their backs all facing to him, talking with someone from a different table. The person they’re talking to nods to him, and they turn.

His heart stops.

They turn and he sees features too familiar for comfort. He sees Eos’ nose and colour of her eyes in the man. Her dark hair gained from both of them. Her cheeks and jaw from the woman, her eyes a startling silver. The couple smile, but it never reaches their eyes. He didn’t expect it to but it’s so  _ shocking _ to see it on faces that look too  _ much _ like his Eos.   
The other man looks more like a brother. About her age. He remains neutral, where Eos’ hair would shift to purple his shifts to blue. 

“Ah, you must be our delightful guest for this evening,” The first man says, extending his free hand towards Asra. “Silas Dogmatiko, ever the pleasure.” His body language, his very aura, screams a certain kind of dominance. He knows he has all the power here, in this building and in a majority of the city. It’s a test, he shouldn’t shake his hand. He holds it carefully, firm, kisses his knuckles as he was instructed to. “My wife, Delilah, and son Hyperion. Our daughter would be here but she had prior engagements.”

These are her parents, her brother.    
What a way to meet them. 

“We’ve heard much about you,” The woman’s- Delilah’s accent is stronger than Silas’, he sees where the Indian in Eos’ voice comes from in her. The Greek from her father. 

What else had she been hiding?   
How  _ involved _ was she? Could he hope she was a black sheep of the family, unwilling to be like them?

He has a sinking feeling in his stomach as dread rises. He feels like he’s going to be sick but he swallows it down, smiles pleasantly at them. At these criminals, at these murderers, at her  _ family _ .

He learns that Hyperion and Eosphorus- they only ever say her full name- are twins. That Hyperion is often away on affairs out of the city, out of their territory, out of the country. He handles things discreetly for them. Their delightful little  _ assassin _ of a son.    
He learns Silas has rebuilt this Family from the ground up, that he took over from one of his own siblings-  _ shot _ them- and since then has made an empire of this place from petty criminals. Learns Delilah is half the reason this Family is so successful, that she is as awful as her husband. Just as devious. 

He learns Eos knows everything they do. 

The dinner goes well, they like him. 

They’ll see him again they say, and he knows they will call on his services.

He does not take a taxi home.   
He just starts walking, thinking on everything he’s learned.    
The night is cold, and it cuts through his jacket. He can’t leave, he can’t run. They’ll know there’s a reason for his disappearance, and Eos  _ must _ know who he met with. And his panic bag is back home, hidden away. He’d have to go back for it.    
He can’t disappear, they know of him now. 

He doesn’t realise he’s reached the park near their apartment until he’s sitting on a bench, head in his hands. What does he  _ do _ ?    
He can’t go back home, but he has to. He has no other choice.   
Does he tell her, risk her letting the Family know? Does he act like nothing happened? 

His chest feels tight.  _ All this time _ . All this time and…

His phone buzzes in his pocket, he turns the screen on and realises it’s  _ far _ later than he said he’d be, and he’s got a few missed calls from Eos.   
Time to face the music he supposes. He answers the call.

“ _ Asra _ ?” She sounds worried, he can hear her mother’s voice in hers. So much like her parents. So much like them. “ _ Asra, are you there? Asra? _ ”

“... Yeah, I’m here,” He doesn’t really know what to say. His mouth feels dry, what does she know? What  _ doesn’t  _ she know? 

“ _ Oh thank god, you had me so worried, _ ” He can practically see in his mind’s eye how she’d press her fingertips to her sternum, the roll of her eyes. “ _ Where are you? You said you’d be home by now _ .  _ Did your dinner go well? Was your boss nice? _ ” 

“I’ll be home soon, I’ll see you soon.” He doesn’t sound like he usually does, not curt. But unwilling to talk, unwilling to talk to  _ her _ .

“... _ Right. Um. I love you, see you. _ ”    
He hangs up the phone, slips it back into his pocket and breathes deep before he heads home. 

..

She’s waiting for him, a second dinner prepared for him in case he hadn’t eaten enough. A bath that had gone cold an hour ago. She kisses his cheek when he gets home and receives nothing.   
_ He’s tired _ , she thinks. 

It happens again and again.   
He’s not the same after that dinner. He goes out again and again, for his job, on more dinners with his boss and co-workers. So she thinks.   
He gets worse, distant.

She stares at him from across the table, he doesn’t notice. Barely eating his food.   
He can’t see the tremor in her hands as she raises her wine to her mouth, the tightness in her eyes and smile. Loud dinner conversation gone.    
She goes to bed and he only comes when he thinks she’s sleeping. He doesn’t touch her.   
Not anymore.

There’s good reason for it, her lying, her secrets.   
But that isn’t the thought that comes to her mind.

“I think he’s seeing someone else,” She says into her phone, walking into the office building where her father has, for now, placed his office. “I… Hyp’, I dunno what to  _ do _ . I tried everything. I’ve been cooking more, I’ve tried being more affectionate, I’ve tried giving him space. I- I dunno what’s changed.” She sniffs, pressing the button to the third floor. 

“ _ Hey, you’re going to see the old man, try not to cry before you get there, _ ” His voice is harsh, but there’s a kind intent behind it. “ _ If you just give me the guy’s name, a description-” _

“You know I won’t do that,” She laughs and steps into the elevator. “You’ll kill him!”

“ _ Where’s the harm in that _ ?” He laughs too, it’s nice to hear some laughter for once. Asra hasn’t laughed in a while, she leans against the wall of the elevator. Playing with the hem of her dress. She misses him, he barely says a word to her.    
It’s only a matter of time before he leaves her, she’s sure of it, and she could end it herself. But she wants to think that maybe he’ll change his mind.

“I gotta go, I’m almost at his office.”

“ _ Take care _ .”

The elevator door opens and she walks towards her father’s office, back straight as a ruler.

..

He continues his work.   
He goes to meetings with The Family, he does their jobs that they give him. He acts obedient. He has  _ one _ thing he has to do, find The Nightingale and arrest them.   
And he finally thinks he knows.

Silas Dogmatiko is supposed to meet with The Nightingale tonight, and he’s just seen Eos walk into the building.   
_ She might just be an accomplice, _ he thinks, prays, hopes,  _ she can’t be involved _ . But the more he’s gotten to know other members of this mafia, the more he’s had a sinking feeling when he looks over what he knows of The Nightingale. The more he worries, suspects, withdraws. 

( _ The truth is, he barely remembered that this was a meeting for The Nightingale. He just knew Eos was going somewhere and was sketchy on the details- something he hadn’t ever really noticed before he met her parents. He had to know if she was involved, if she was  _ safe _. He feels guilty, but he has to know _ .)

It takes a few minutes, but he sees figures in the window of the office he knows Silas uses. Raises the camera and zooms in.   
He can’t hear what they’re saying, but he sees Eos stand at her father’s desk. Expression neutral, void of any emotion. So unlike her, so  _ unlike _ her.    
Until emotion does show. Shock, an almost angry disbelief. She says something, he can practically hear the tone in her voice he knows it so well, how she can sound so indignant. He doesn’t take a photo, not yet. Not until her father’s face is visible too. As confirmation. 

He sees her father stand up, the argument worse, he  _ knows _ how loud she can be and how loud her father can be. His grip on the camera tightens, knuckles white.

Her father raises a hand, poised to strike and he inhales sharply.   
Eos flinches and bows her head, stepping back. 

She flinches and he takes the photo. It’s too shaky to really identify anyone in it.

She flinches and her father is placated. He sits back down and leans back, fingers steepling together.

She flinches and he’s  _ never _ seen her flinch before, he’s seen an out of control car barely miss her and hear her say ‘ _ Oh. Shit, okay, _ ’ he’s seen her do so  _ much _ . But never has he seen her  _ flinch _ . 

She turns away and he takes another photo.

She gets dismissed and only then does he notice how fast his heart is racing, how he can’t quite feel the camera in his hands or feel like any of this is  _ real _ .   
It can’t be real. That can’t have happened.    
He waits. Sees her exit the building and starts his car, racing off. His grip on the steering wheel is tight, like it’s the only thing keeping him tethered to reality. And it probably is. If he doesn’t keep hold of it, he’ll lose it.

He gets home before her, hears her cat-  _ thump, thump, thump _ \- come down the hallway to see if it’s her and turn away when he realises it’s only Asra.    
He’s killed people before, it’s part of the job. You have to do what you have to do. But he’s never taken any joy from it, he’s never  _ wanted _ to. It’s awful work, an awful thing to do. After that, he has an odd desire to go looking for his gun. To load it, to meticulously check it over and march right on into that office. 

He gets home before Eos, because he can’t let her come home to an empty home after that, and sits down on their couch. The one he’d liked before they moved in together and she’d bought for him once they had. He rests his hands on his knees and stares straight at the wall. If looks could  _ kill _ , the other half of the building would’ve disappeared under that gaze.

He hears the key turn in the door’s lock, twists around to look as it opens and  _ sees _ her.

He sees the tightness in her expression, carefully applied small smile that doesn’t reach her eyes and how  _ tired _ she looks. The tenseness in her arms, her whole body really.   
He’d been so worried, so worried about what she was  _ doing _ what she  _ knew _ , that he hadn’t taken the time to realise that she’d been worrying too. 

He gets up off the couch, almost instantaneously he has his arms wrapped around her. Holding her as close as he can, as  _ tight _ as he can. Arms strong, warm, around her just like they used to be.   
He holds her like he can protect her from what he just saw. Like he can protect her from the entire world, from everything bad in it, just by shielding her with his own body.

She doesn’t move at first, but then he feels her relax and melt. Her hands taking fistfuls of his shirt, as if she’s afraid he’ll run off or disappear if she doesn’t cling on. 

( _ She considers, perhaps, that his behaviour recently was just stress. That working permanently in one place, rather than temp-ing, was just something he had to adjust to. If he can hold her like this, then it couldn’t be  _ possible _ that he’d of stopped loving her. Not if he can still do this and still make her feel so safe, so wanted. _ )

He feels her move, looks down at her as she smiles up at him. Something shaky about her expression. He can’t muster up a smile to match hers, all he can do is think about how  _ long _ she’d been dealing with this. Their entire relationship- her entire  _ life _ . And he’d been so, so  _ worried _ she was some criminal.   
As if that  _ mattered _ now, she could lead a mafia herself, she could be The Nightingale, and it wouldn’t matter. Not anymore.

“What’s wrong?” Her expression falls, eyes searching his face for answers. Dread builds up again.   
He lets her go, hands sliding down her arms to her hands. Grip firm, he squeezes her fingers. How can he let that happen again? How can he let her  _ go _ again? 

“Please… Please just, sit down. We need to talk.”

Her expression changes, halfway to guarded while still showing how worried she is. His chest constricts, has he done that to her? Nonetheless, she lets him guide her to the couch. The two of them with firm grips on each other’s hands. Afraid to let go, afraid of what it might mean if they do.    
He’s uncertain, and he knows she can see it on his face.    
When has he  _ ever  _ been good at expressing himself in any sort of tense situation like this? His thoughts are jumbled, and he tries to follow one to start to  _ explain _ but they all lead back to what he saw.   
Her flinching, stepping back and deferring to someone else.   
His Eos doesn’t  _ flinch _ . She’s never  _ flinched _ . 

It makes this all so much harder.   
How can he explain what he saw, how he saw it?

It takes a few minutes, and she waits so patiently but she asks anyway.

“Are you leaving me?” He can hear her heart breaking, sees resignation in her expression. The tension doesn’t melt away, she just can’t uphold herself anymore.   
He hears her ask that question and his hands spasm in response, squeezing far too tight on her fingers. It shocks him. It takes a second but he manages to force his fingers to relax, to let circulation return to her hands. He feels her fingers rub small circles against his skin. Comforting  _ him _ , despite what she just  _ said _ .   
She doesn’t need someone else hurting her. Not now, not  _ him _ .

“No! No, Eos.” He gulps. Is that what she thinks this is, is that what his distance and silence has come off as? No, no he could never  _ leave _ her. “It’s nothing like that. It’s nothing bad.” He pauses. “Well. It might be bad.” He sucks in a breath, and holds it in his chest. “I love you.”

"I love you too," She can only think of a few things that might be going on, none of them really... fitting in. Not with how he’s been acting, not with how he’s acting now. "What's going on?"

“It’s… It’s my job- About my job, not the job itself- or Kind of the job itself, I-” He takes another breath, sighs. “I… Lied to... you.”

“... Well, okay. That’s fine, what  _ do _ you do then?”

He’s about to answer, but he tenses. Suddenly acutely paranoid.   
He gets up, sudden, sharp, and goes to the windows. Scans the street before he shuts the curtains.   
He has to admit to it, most if not all of it. 

He sits back next to Eos, fingers tapping on his knee. “I- my new job is... with the Family.” He sucks in a breath. “Your Family.”

She tenses, shifting uncomfortably. "Oh," she says a bit lamely before she can think of anything to say. There’s a sudden moment of realisation for her. "That's... You work with the Family. You've  _ met _ my family."

“... Yes.” He feels his face go dark at the mention of them. “...I have.” He lurches towards her, snatching up one of her hands in his, kissing her knuckles like she’s the most precious thing in the world. (And it’s an ugly irony, isn’t it, that this was how he had greeted her father? The thought makes him burn.) Her free hand goes to his knee, gripping. 

"There's more, tell me the rest." He smooths his palm over the back of her hand, back and forth and back and forth. That, and the reassuring grip she has on his knee help to ground him. This hasn’t gone as badly as he had suspected it might. 

“I saw you...meeting your father. Today.” He keeps his fingers from clenching again, but barely. His teeth clack together audibly.

He looks up at her and sees the way her eyes widen. It’s shock first, again, then fear. Horror. He sees her eyes tear up, her hand start to shake in his. She scrambles for words, and then just says, simply:

"I'm sorry."

Just as she says he leans forward, into her. Hands coming up to cup her face, he keeps her head tilted up. Inches away, he stares directly into her eyes. As though he can help her, will her, to believe him when he whispers, all the love he has for her and anger he holds towards her father in his voice. “You have nothing to apologise for, do you hear me?”

He watches as her eyes spill over, tears streaming down her face. Her hands come up over his, fingers threading together, "You shouldn't of had to see that, I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

“Oh, Eos.” He wraps his arms around her, and presses a kiss to her hair, stroking it gently. “It’s not-“ his voice breaks. “It’s not your fault.” It  _ isn’t _ her fault, she’s had no control over it from the beginning. He wishes he could’ve seen it sooner, gotten her out sooner.

"I didn't think you'd find out,” her voice sounds so fragile. Like she’ll break at any moment. So fragile. His poor Eos, his sweet Eos. Devoted Eos, funny Eos, snarky, sharp,  _ biting _ Eos. Eos who has been hiding so much, and going through so much right under his nose.

And doesn’t that hurt his heart? Eos dealing with this, for so long, and him having no idea. “You’re brave, Eos. You’re so brave.” He kisses her hair again and again. “I love you.”

“I love you too," she closes her eyes and takes the deepest breath she can. Voice small when she speaks again. "I don't know what to do."

“Breathe with me.” He deliberately made his breathing deep, and slow, in a way he hoped might be calming to her. It helps him when she does it, so hopefully.  “...I will protect you.” She copies him, breathing as he does and begins to relax. Fingers unfurling to splay over his back instead. 

"I don't want you getting hurt because of me, Asra." Once again, she sounds resigned. Accepting of her treatment, of that  _ abuse _ . It hurts, it hurts her and it hurts him she’s so willing to go through it.

“I don’t want you getting hurt at all.”

"I'm fine, I- I... It could be worse, and I live here, with you, so it's okay."

“It’s- its not okay. You should be safe. All the time.” he breathed in the smell of her hair, the feel of her skin, the knowledge that she was here, before him, safe and whole.

"That's impossible, on a statistical level. Asra, it's not like I can just avoid them and it isn't like they’re going to stop." She lifts her head to kiss his cheek. "Just gotta wait 'til they cark it from old age or something.” She kisses him proper, pressing her cheek to his after. “Don’t do anythin’ stupid.”

“I won’t. We won’t… I met your brother.” She laughs, a short burst but it’s  _ something _ .

"You met Hyperion? Now I'm really glad I didn't go to that dinner, the teasing would never have ended."

“Well, they didn’t know about us. I didn’t know about you until then.”

"True, and even though Hyp’s an idiot I don't doubt he'd figure it out. Especially if we'd both be met with a very shocking realisation of 'oh we're both criminals? Neat.'" She laughs again and he does too, arms squeezing. As if he can hold her impossibly closer. It feels good to hug her like this again, to feel how soft she is. To smell her hair, her skin. Soft, soft, soft.

“He looks exactly like you,” He did, same nose, eyes. Just a different colour scheme, blue instead of purple, silver instead of gold. Taller, but the same pride. The same detached nature he saw when she entered her father’s office. 

"We're twins, but I'm the pretty one." She sounds smug,  _ happy _ . She’s happy again, and his.  _ His _ . 

With a line like that, how could he do anything but kiss her?   
He will broach the subject of his...other job another time.

She sighs against his mouth, kisses his jaw then just rests her head on his shoulder. Fingertips tracing patterns, words, on the back of his hand. He lays back and pulls her with him. Happy to just entangle together there for now. 

He doesn’t know how he’ll tell her that he’s… About his other job. If she’ll trust him after he tells her.   
But he does know that he loves her. And he’s going to  _ try _ this time, really try. He kisses her temple.

“I love you.”


End file.
